


Losing Sleep

by StarlightAfterAStorm



Series: The Adventures of Porkchop and Caramel [2]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 16:35:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12988065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarlightAfterAStorm/pseuds/StarlightAfterAStorm
Summary: Someone in the Jones Household decided to have a crisis at 5 in the morning.





	Losing Sleep

**Author's Note:**

> So the fandom and my dash has been super negative lately. Not that you can’t complain if you’re upset because I am also upset but it’s just been bringing me down, making me not want to engage with anyone or anything. Which is a problem when I still have (at least) four chapters of a fic left to write (+side story). I needed a fluffy pick me up. So I wrote a fluffy pick me up.

[Pictureset posted on tumblr here. ](http://starlightafterastorm.tumblr.com/post/168443454199/so-the-fandom-and-my-dash-has-been-super-negative)

 

* * *

 

 

_mrrreow._

 

_mrrreow._

 

 _MRRREOW_.

 

Jughead’s head snaps up and he blinks muzzily in the dark as a loud yowling echoes through the apartment. The numbers 4:51 glow up at him when he reaches out to press the home button on his phone.

 

_MRRREOW._

 

Turning towards the center of the bed, Jughead pats blindly next to him, looking for a warm shoulder. He finds a blanket covered lump instead so he flattens a hand against it and shakes it sharply. A low whine greets him and he shakes her again.

 

_MRRREOW._

 

“Betty.”

 

_MRRREOW._

 

Another whine answers him. “Nooooo. Babe, I got home so late.” The Betty shaped lump burrows further underneath the pillows and blankets.

 

_MRRREOW._

 

“Betty. Your cat is crying.”

 

_MRRREOW._

 

Betty’s head pops out of the lump and she rubs a hand against one bleary eye.

 

_MRRREOW._

 

“Caramel?”

 

_MRRREOW._

 

“Oh my gosh. Caramel!”

Betty jumps out of bed and runs straight towards the sound.

Jughead pulls the abandoned pillow over his own face and attempts to go back to sleep. Distantly he can hear the continued meowing of the little orange kitten Betty had somehow conned him into adopting, but it’s muffled through a layer of cotton and goosedown so Jughead can _almost_ ignore it completely.

 

_mrrreow._

 

_mrrreow._

 

_mrrreow._

 

“Juggie! Help! She’s stuck behind the fridge!”

Jughead tosses the pillow to the side as he embraces the inevitable. He groans as he sits up and rubs his hands down his face, trying to process Betty’s words.

“She what?” He calls out to her.

Betty doesn’t reply.

Jughead shivers lightly and grabs a hoodie off of the back of the couch as he pads his way into the brightly lit kitchen area. Betty has her arms wrapped around the fridge and is trying to pull it back with no success. She grunts a little and tries pulling again but the fridge doesn’t budge.

Their beagle, Porkchop, is sitting on the kitchen island and matches each of Caramel’s little cries with a whine of his own. Jughead comes up and softly scratches between his ears.

“Hey buddy. You’re not supposed to be on the counter.”

Betty turns around and gives Jughead a baleful look.

“Priorities, Juggie! She got stuck behind the fridge somehow. Help me move it.”

Jughead runs his hand over his face again. It is too early in the morning for this.

“How did this even happen?”

“I guess she was sitting on top and fell? Poor thing.” Betty uses her phone flashlight to shine into the space between the fridge and the wall. Jughead peers over the top of Betty’s head where he can see the swish of Caramel’s tail and a little orange bottom sticking up. “It’s ok sweetie. We see you. Daddy’s gonna help Mommy get you out. Jug, why won’t the fridge move? Doesn’t it have wheels?”

Jughead laughs lightly with sleep deprived hysteria and turns around. He opens up the the cabinet underneath the sink and starts rooting around for their small toolbox.

“Because the wheels lock, Babe. Remember?”

He hands her a wrench and Betty groans as she sits down to unscrew the lock from the wheels. Jughead picks Porkchop off of the counter and settles him in his lap as he sits with his back against the cupboards. Betty waves the wrench half threateningly at him and raises a brow. 

“Don’t laugh at me, mister. I had to do a late press conference and I had a meeting with the Director which is why I didn’t get home until 2-ish.”

A little crinkle appears between Jughead’s brows.

“A meeting about what?”

“About a possible transfer. But I turned her down. I’m happy where we are now, you know?”

Betty smiles over her shoulder at him and Jughead can’t help but smile back.

“I mean, I’d be happier if we were still in our warm bed but yeah, I guess you could say I’m happy.” Jughead quips.

Porkchop gives a little yip from his place in Jughead’s lap, as if confirming his own contentment and Betty laughs. Jughead pets Porkchop and the two of them doze lightly while Betty fiddles with the locks. Jughead contemplates how the only one who isn’t happy right now is Caramel. Her meows have gotten softer now that she can sense her family has come to her rescue but Jughead can still hear the distress in her voice.

“Poor baby.” Betty murmurs again, almost too soft for Jughead to hear.

Betty finishes unscrewing the locks on the wheels and pulls at the fridge. This time it rolls out smoothly with little effort and a crying Caramel runs straight towards Betty who scoops her up and cradles her in her arms.

“It’s ok. Sweetie, you’re ok. We’re gonna have to make sure the fridge is more snug in its space from now on, huh?”

“Or we try to keep her from climbing the fridge in the first place.” Jughead dryly comments.

Jughead picks Porkchop up with one hand and loops the other one around Betty’s waist. A now purring Caramel rubs her cheek against Betty’s arms and closes her eyes in happiness. Betty tips her head up wordlessly for a kiss and it’s a plea Jughead has never been able to deny.

It’s a slow kiss, sweet with familiarity, tinged with gratefulness and just a hint of banked down desire. But Jughead can also feel the exhaustion pressing down on Betty’s shoulders, the knots of tension she’s started to bring home from work. Gently, he eases out of the kiss and nudges Betty forward.

“Come on Betts. You have to be back in the office by 9 and I think it’s way past 5 at this point.”

Betty shakes her head and leans in again, gives him lighter kisses, little pecks she steals from the corner of his mouth before settling in for a deeper one.

“Is it even worth it to go back to bed at this point? I just have to get up again in an hour or two.”

Jughead lets himself be swayed for a minute or five before he urges her back to the bedroom.

“Sleep, Betty. You’re gonna need those extra hours later if you don’t want to come home with another migraine.”

Betty pouts but settles for one last kiss before she allows Jughead to push her back into bed and pull the blanket over them. Porkchop settles in the little hollow between their stomachs but Caramel fidgets around before nestling into the crook of Jughead’s neck.

Betty reaches one hand up and pets Caramel one last time before moving her hand to Jughead’s cheek.

“Love you, Jug.”

Betty’s eyes shine in the last low shadows before dawn arrives and Jughead turns his head to place a kiss to her palm.

“I love you, Betty.”

As light starts to steal into the room, Jughead falls back asleep with the warm press of his family around him.

**Author's Note:**

> I would say this happens maybe a week/a couple weeks (?) after they adopt Caramel. Poor baby is still getting used to her new home.


End file.
